Monday, November 24, 2008
family update... + cowbells!
Pauline's been gone for 5 days, helping to take care of her dad. I guess I haven't written about that here yet, but he's been diagnosed with "Hashimoto's encephalopathy", an extremely rare condition which only about 10 people in the U.S. have.
http://thyroid.about.com/cs/hashimotos/a/encephalopathy.htm
http://thyroid.about.com/od/relatedconditions1/a/sreat.htm
The bad news is that it's severely debilitating, and has reduced his mind to the level of a two year old in just 2-3 weeks. It's also added all kinds of other "goodies", such as paranoia, auditory hallucinations, obsessive-compulsive behavior, even some Turret's type behavior. He also hasn't yet started responding to the standard treatment of oral steroids.
The good news is that if he starts responding to the steroids the prognosis is pretty good. It's one of the few serious brain disorders where the brain can return to near full functionality.
I sent this next bit out to Mellor family members earlier today, but decided it's also appropriate for this blog: Yesterday our church service was about gratitude. One of the speakers talked about a number of negative things that had happened in her life, and about how she was usually able to find "silver linings" that she could be grateful for despite the adversity. As she was speaking, I felt inspired to try to find the silver lining in Doug's situation. What I came up with was this: this experience has caused me to appreciate the Mellor family. Specifically:
I'm thankful to be part of a family where
* children are able/willing to drop everything at a moment's notice to come to the aid of a parent in need
* none of the children are estranged from the family, so that even those unable to be there are greatly concerned
* someone is able to request a family fast and know that everyone who is able will join in
If/when Doug recovers, I'm certain he will be grateful for these things, too.
...
In other news, this made me laugh! The world's first digital modeling cowbell Click on the "Click here to test drive" text in the bottom right.
http://thyroid.about.com/cs/hashimotos/a/encephalopathy.htm
http://thyroid.about.com/od/relatedconditions1/a/sreat.htm
The bad news is that it's severely debilitating, and has reduced his mind to the level of a two year old in just 2-3 weeks. It's also added all kinds of other "goodies", such as paranoia, auditory hallucinations, obsessive-compulsive behavior, even some Turret's type behavior. He also hasn't yet started responding to the standard treatment of oral steroids.
The good news is that if he starts responding to the steroids the prognosis is pretty good. It's one of the few serious brain disorders where the brain can return to near full functionality.
I sent this next bit out to Mellor family members earlier today, but decided it's also appropriate for this blog: Yesterday our church service was about gratitude. One of the speakers talked about a number of negative things that had happened in her life, and about how she was usually able to find "silver linings" that she could be grateful for despite the adversity. As she was speaking, I felt inspired to try to find the silver lining in Doug's situation. What I came up with was this: this experience has caused me to appreciate the Mellor family. Specifically:
I'm thankful to be part of a family where
* children are able/willing to drop everything at a moment's notice to come to the aid of a parent in need
* none of the children are estranged from the family, so that even those unable to be there are greatly concerned
* someone is able to request a family fast and know that everyone who is able will join in
If/when Doug recovers, I'm certain he will be grateful for these things, too.
...
In other news, this made me laugh! The world's first digital modeling cowbell Click on the "Click here to test drive" text in the bottom right.
# posted by John Colton @ 9:56 PM 
